Eric’s story: Ending a 13-year battle with insomnia with medical cannabis

Can you tell me a bit about yourself and your health journey? 

I am 54, I live in Blackpool and I have been an internal auditor for the government for the last 16 years. I’ve been married for 27 years, and my wife and I love dogs, and we volunteer regularly with the RSPCA. We have two rescue dogs of our own right now, and they keep us quite busy. 

I’ve always loved cars and travelling, and I have many other interests. I’m due to retire in about six months, so I’ve just started learning the piano. I know my piano playing is improving because, recently, my wife said that it didn’t make her want to leave the room!

My chronic ailments started when I lost my dad about 13 years ago. We were very close, and I was in a low emotional state at the time. When I was driving back from the funeral, somebody came straight out of a roundabout and hit the back quarter panel of my car, causing the car spun around violently. I was seriously injured and there were trapped nerves all the way down my left side of my body. 

After the accident, I started to get this low tremor in my legs when I was relaxing. Sitting down, I’d get a really weird crawling sensation. It was Restless Leg Syndrome, and I suffered with the insomnia and discomfort surrounding that for many years. 

In the last 18 months, it escalated to the point that I’ve been prescribed a number of serious medications, and some of the side effects have been horrific. I was put on gabapentin—three, 300mg tablets, three times a day—quite a high dose, and I ended up having awful, suicidal thoughts. I didn't know the side effects of medications could be suicidal thoughts. 

I came off that, and went on to pregabalin, and then they put me on pramipexole which is for Parkinson’s Disease. I didn't know anything about pramipexole before, but in my opinion, it is a horrific drug. I looked into the case studies for it, and I found them terrifying. From there, I was prescribed ropinirole, which is also a Parkinson’s drug. It was all terrible. 

Through all these medications, my restless legs only got worse. The symptoms went from a little tremor to spasming every time I sat down. Anytime I wanted to relax, sit back and watch a movie, my legs would spasm. When I wanted to go to bed at night, my legs would spasm. I couldn’t get any sleep. I went 13 years without a decent night's sleep, and that really took its toll on my body. 

Nothing worked, and my condition eventually moved from my legs, into my torso and my arms. 

How did you first learn about medical cannabis as a treatment option?

About three months ago, I went to see a private neurologist. I thought it would help me to understand what was going on, but it was useless—an absolutely terrible experience. The doctor told me that I wasn't on enough medication, and that I needed to increase my dosage. I said, “I'm really disappointed with all this, because I've just weaned down to one pill per day, and now you're now telling me I've got to take six?” 

That’s when I said, “Right. I've had enough. I need to find something different. I need to find something that's going to help me.” I did a search on the internet, and discovered Releaf right away. The customer reviews; details; website creation; everything just looked right. I thought, these people look like they know what they're doing, and I said to myself, “Okay. I'll make an appointment and see what happens.” 

In my first appointment with a Releaf doctor, he was really helpful, understood my condition and, most importantly, listened. When I mentioned that at one point I was four days awake, he said, “Right. We'll start you off on something balanced, see how we get on, and move forward from there.”

What stood out to you most about Releaf’s service?

The system Releaf has put in place makes things easy. It seems like a better operation than the others I’ve seen. It really helps that it is so easy to navigate the website, the calls, accessing what stages your requests are at. It all gives me a positive impression about what Releaf is about. You get the information you want, when you want it, how you want it—and it's all clear, cut and dried and no surprises. When I come in for a consultation, the doctors know exactly what I am dealing with, and I don’t have to start at the beginning every time I see a new doctor. 

How has your dosing routine evolved since you started treatment?

We have changed the treatment a few times. After I got my prescription, I wasn't overly keen on the vaping system, so I made another appointment. I simply said, “This isn’t working for me,” and he said, “Okay. Vapes, no good. Let's get you on the medical cannabis oil. Let's move things around, change the dosage and see if we can get a better result.” It was almost like watching an alchemist tinkering with the balances to get the medicine to work specifically for me. 

I’ve only been with Releaf a few months, not a long time, but because of the ability to have a consultation quickly—within a day or so—and to be able to talk to somebody and adjust the medication, things have progressed quite quickly. You can't really work that quickly with a typical doctor. 

My last doctor at Releaf was brilliant. It was like chatting to one of my mates in a relaxed atmosphere. That relaxed conversation makes life a lot easier when you're trying to explain what is working or what isn’t. When a doctor isn’t relaxed, or seems rushed or a bit surly, it's very difficult to go make progress. It's nice just to have a normal conversation and be listened to. At the end, the doctor told me, “I know exactly what you need.” That’s how you move on.

Since you’ve made these changes, have you noticed any differences in your symptoms?

At one point, I had three appointments in two weeks with Releaf, and we finally realised that my primary goal was to get a good night’s sleep. We decided, for the time being, not to focus so much on treating my legs as much, and I was prescribed a stronger strain that focused on my insomnia. 

I tried a different vape system and, that night, I fell asleep easily and slept all the way through the night. Brilliant! The next day, I was having a video chat with my mum, and she saw the change immediately. She said, “What's different?” and said, “I slept through the night!” I woke up as a different person—the first time I’d slept straight through the night after years of insomnia. It was quite an emotional thing and I immediately felt more energy during the day. 

After I started sleeping again, I thought to myself, “Well, we've managed that bit. Now let's see if we can do something about these restless legs.” 

I talked with my doctor at Releaf about a daytime medication that would address inflammation and some other aspects of Restless Leg Syndrome, and I was prescribed a different strain of flower specifically for that, which is helping. 

I also find that, with medical cannabis, I’m incredibly productive and creative. My piano playing has as vastly improved, which is a benefit I wasn’t expecting. I don't know if that's because I'm more relaxed or just in a more positive state of mind.

Stigma

When I talk to people about medical cannabis, there is still definitely a big stigma attached, and I think that’s wrong. The amount of people that haven’t even realised it is legal for medical use is quite astounding, because it's been available in the UK for six years now.  .

Many people still think that if you use medical cannabis, you’ll be lazy and sit on the sofa all day. It’s important to understand that this is tailored medication, adjusted specifically for the user. I’m not just buying some random cannabis from the street— my medicine has been carefully curated -—and that gives me confidence about it. 

When it first came to Releaf, I was nervous about taking medical cannabis because I wasn’t sure about the side effects, So far there have been no negative side effects except for feeling a bit hungry sometimes.

What advice would you give to someone considering medical cannabis?

If you're suffering, and you want to get better, I think medical cannabis is something that can help you. Give it a try. I spent years without sleep, and this is the only treatment that has worked. You have to ask yourself, “Would I rather suffer in pain, or should I give medical cannabis a go? If it works, it works. If it doesn't, you’ve at least given yourself an option. 

That's exactly what I did. I decided that enough was enough, I'd tried the other ways, and now I want to try something different.